Page 14 of Prince She Shouldn’t Crave (Royal House of Halrovia #2)

‘You’d have been vetted when you went to work with Isolobello’s royal family. Priscilla recommended you. That was enough for me. But I want to know what problems your mother thinks your marriage might solve.’

If there was something he could help with, it might ease the pressure on Lena.

He didn’t know why he hated that thought—of her marrying someone else, whereas at the same time, he had an intense desire to see her in a wedding dress, a veil over her face, looking up at him…

No, not at him. That was not where his thoughts were going.

She was a beautiful woman, that was all, and she’d make a beautiful bride.

The air in the room seemed to get still and heated again.

He shrugged off his jacket and draped it over the arm of the chair, loosened his tie and undid the top button of his shirt.

Lena took another sip of her hot chocolate, then licked her lips, the pupils of her eyes wide and dark in the lower light of the room.

Something heavy, palpable, weighed on him—the intensity of the situation, the desire to kiss her, to taste her.

It was wrong. He was her employer. Yet, he also accepted in that moment that he was simply a man, and she was a beautiful woman.

And what man wouldn’t want to kiss her, wouldn’t want to marry her, wouldn’t want to have her for ever?

But she remained quiet, the question unanswered.

‘That employment trial, your probation,’ he said.

Her eyes widened, her white teeth biting into her lower lip.

‘I think we both know you’ve passed it. I’ll ask my private secretary to have the official employment contracts drawn up.’

Her mouth broke into the most beautiful smile. Whilst he’d seen her smile before, this one was pure, unrestrained joy. It lit her whole face.

‘Thank you,’ she said, her eyes glittering. Were those tears? ‘You can’t know what this means to me.’

She came closer to him, a step. Did he step towards her as well?

Gabe wasn’t sure. He might have imagined it, but he could almost feel the warmth from her body.

His own, too hot. Everything tight, as if he were too big for his skin, as if he wanted to split in two and morph into something, somebody else.

They were almost touching now, so close if he leaned down he could capture her mouth with his own.

He might have imagined it, but her head tilted back.

Lips sightly parted. He wanted to kiss her.

Craving it more than his next breath. Did she want to kiss him?

A gentle rap sounded at the door, and the handle turned.

The door cracked open, and Lena stood back.

There was only one person who would ever walk in, the only other individual who had any entitlement to be in his personal quarters and space.

One he’d texted after he’d arrived back at the house—his valet.

‘Pieter,’ he said.

‘Y-Your Highness.’ Gabe didn’t miss the slight hesitation. ‘I can leave—’

‘No,’ Lena said. ‘We were talking work, and it’s late, but maybe…’ She placed her cup on a side table and reached into the back pocket of her jeans, pulling out her phone. ‘We can take photographs of some unscripted moments. The public like you unscripted.’

Unscripted. He wanted to know—was that what she liked about him too? But these thoughts led nowhere.

‘So what would you like us to do?’ Pieter said, completely unfazed.

‘What would you normally do at this time?’ Lena asked.

‘Get undressed,’ Gabriel said.

‘Oh.’ She gave a low and soft kind of chuckle, a sexy kind of sound that shot through his blood more potently than any of the whisky he’d drunk tonight. ‘Well, those kinds of photos would cause even more of a stir in the comments section than we have so far.’

Pieter chuckled too. ‘I should read some of them to you, sir. They are quite the thing.’

Lena cocked her head to the side, studying him. Did she pick up on what Pieter had said? Who knew. Yet he wanted her to admire him, to like him. Little else seemed as important.

‘What caused this?’ he asked, totally bemused.

‘The photograph of you and Carl. Nothing more enticing, it seems, than a man and child. But don’t worry, whilst a shirtless shot would give the Internet a coronary and launch your popularity into the stratosphere, we are not giving them that.’

There was a sound to her voice. Something a little sharp. Almost protective. Could it be…possessiveness? He liked that it might be.

‘Just…pretend I’m not here for a bit,’ Lena said.

Didn’t she realise how impossible that concept was?

There was no way he could ignore her. Every time she was in his presence he experienced an intoxicating prickle of awareness.

Something that drew his attention to her, like a compass to magnetic north.

He tried to do what she asked. Pieter seemed to have no trouble ignoring her, but that was his training.

His employer was his focus, no one else.

Gabe didn’t know why he wanted the same focus from Lena, yet perhaps that was what he had, though always through a lens.

Her eyes trying to find the essence of him.

What if she stopped seeing him through that lens and started seeing him for real?

‘Did you have a good evening, Your Highness?’ Pieter asked as they walked towards the dressing room where his clothes hung.

‘You know how the ambassador is.’

‘Of course.’

Pieter didn’t need to say anything more.

He’d been with Gabriel long enough to know exactly what Gabe thought of the ambassador here.

Gabriel pulled off his tie, handed it over to his valet.

Gabe was quite capable of looking after himself yet, somehow, talking to Pieter was like a debrief.

Though he felt as if he didn’t need it tonight, that he’d already debriefed with Lena…

Pieter took the tie and hung it on a tie rack.

‘I’ll get His Highness wearing a pink tie one day,’ Lena said, the amused, lilting sound of her voice like fingers traced gently down his spine.

‘I’d like to see you try, Ms Rosetti.’ Pieter sniffed, although Gabe knew him well enough to glean the amusement in his voice too.

Saw the merest of smiles on his usually impassive face.

Gabe didn’t know why he wanted his longest-serving employee to like his newest, yet he didn’t dwell.

A harmonious workplace was good for everyone, that was all.

In a strange way, Gabe felt adrift. Separate.

As if he weren’t a part of what was going on here.

It was an uncomfortable sensation. He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d truly felt part of something.

Sure, he was a member of the royal family.

He was close to his siblings, but Ana and Cilla had moved on with their lives.

Some might have seen them as a close family but he’d never had an easy, warm relationship with his parents.

Most of the time they’d dictated to their children, and Gabe and his sisters simply followed.

Even his moniker, the Proper Prince, spoke volumes about him.

It told of a person who always stood apart.

The only time he’d felt a real sense of belonging, he realised, was when he’d played football.

The ease of it. He hadn’t been a prince then, he’d been a team member.

All with a common purpose, sure, but a camaraderie as well.

He removed the cufflinks from one sleeve, then the other.

Placed them on a dressing table. Looked over at Lena, glowing in the soft, warm light of the lamps.

Holding her phone. Doing what? Taking stills?

Video? It was such a strange sensation to be having his life catalogued like this.

What did she see, or think, when she looked at him?

Did she want him to undress in front of her?

Something about having Pieter here seemed so clinical and cold, when all Gabe craved was heat.

He’d felt that heat with her, before Pieter had arrived. Why couldn’t he have it again?

Because she was his employee, and Gabe knew that their situation was impossible.

His shirt felt too rough against his skin.

He wanted to be naked, exposed to the cool night air.

Not trapped in this suit that had begun to feel foreign to him.

He undid the second button of his shirt.

A third. Lena stilled. Something crackled in the air, a kind of electricity.

It wasn’t Lena in the room forgotten right now, but his valet.

She seemed to hesitate. Stopped what she was doing, looked at the screen of her phone.

‘I think I have enough. Is there anything you’d like me to say on a post about your night tonight?’

‘I’m sure you’ll think of something that doesn’t involve my telling the ambassador to keep his opinions to himself.’

Lena nodded. Gave a brief curtsey. ‘Noted. Goodnight, Your Highness. I—I’ll see you tomorrow, for your meeting at the palace.’

She turned and it was almost as if she fled the room, leaving her cup of hot chocolate behind. The faintest, tantalising pink smudge from her lips on the rim.